IOC recommends awarding two Oly Games at same time
Mixed athletics, swimming relays approved for 2020
LAUSANNE, June 10, (RTRS): The hosting rights for both the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games should be awarded at the same time, the International Olympic Committee’s executive board recommended on Friday.
Paris and Los Angeles are the only candidates left in the race for 2024 and, if passed, the recommendation would almost certainly mean that each would host one of the next two summer Games, with only the order still to be decided.
IOC president Thomas Bach said the recommendation would be put to an extraordinary IOC session in Lausanne in July. There is a further IOC session in Lima in September which was originally scheduled to choose the 2024 hosts and may now decide whether Paris or Los Angeles go first.
“Having two such great cities, two such great countries, two candidates who are really enthusiastic and promoting the Olympic Games and the Olympic spirit... this represents a golden opportunity for the Olympic Games,” Bach told reporters. “It is a win-win-win situation.” Bach heavily implied that, if the recommendation was passed, there would be no chance for other candidates to enter the race for 2028. He also denied that getting the 2028 would be a consolation prize.
“It is a fascinating race to have Paris and Los Angeles striving for the Olympic Games, it is hard to imagine something better and it is a very strong sign of stability,” he said.
Bach praised both cities for including a high number of existing venues in their plans, saying this would “lead to significant cost reductions in the organisation of the Games and make them more sustainable and more feasible.”
The Paris and Los Angeles organising committees both welcomed the announcement.
The Olympic Games, once perceived as the hottest of sports properties, is now seen by many cities as a liability that can potentially drag an entire country’s economy down.
Rome, Budapest, Hamburg and Boston all pulled out of bidding for 2024.
Bach said the board had proposed the same 28 sports for 2024 which featured in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, provided they “comply with the Olympic charter
Bach
and this includes the world anti-doping code.”
But he said there was an extra condition for weightlifting, which has been plagued by doping with numerous participants testing positive in re-tests of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. “The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has until December 2017 to deliver a satisfactory report to the IOC on how they will address the massive doping problem this sport is facing,” he said.
He added that the IOC had already sent a warning to the IWF by reducing the number of athletes for the 2020 Tokyo Games from 260 to 196.
Meanwhile mixed relays in athletics and swimming and three-a-side basketball were among new events approved on Friday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The IOC’s executive board also agreed to add mixed doubles in table tennis, mixed team events in judo, shooting and archery and a mixed team triathlon.
IOC President Thomas Bach said the new disciplines would make the games “more youthful, more urban and will include more women”.
An IOC statement said Tokyo would include a 4 x 400 mixed relay in athletics and a 4 x 100 medley mixed relay in swimming. Swimming would also include two further new events - a men’s 800 metres and women’s 1500 metres freestyle race.
The IOC said the numbers of athletes in some sports would be cut with athletics (105 fewer athletes), weightlifting (64) and wrestling (56) the main casualties. On the other hand, basketball would have 64 extra participants.
The world athletics body (IAAF) said it was delighted at the inclusion of mixed relays but disappointed in the reduction in its athletes quota.
It said mixed relays had been “hugely successful and appealing for athletes and spectators alike”.
“Pitching teams of two men and two women together with the added dimension of team tactics, make this a vibrant, youthful and exciting competition.”
But it added: “Whilst we understand the need to be firm on numbers and applaud the IOC’s stance on gender equality in all sports, reducing the quota will inevitably have an impact on our joint goals of universality.”